


The Story of L'manberg: Rewritten by Ranboo

by Emily_711



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Canon-Typical Violence, Confused Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Enderman Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Good Friend Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs is a time traveler, Leader Wilbur Soot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28748874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emily_711/pseuds/Emily_711
Summary: Ranboo looks at the mighty blackstone walls, a sort of awe settling in his gut. He’d only been on the server for a few months before L'manberg had lost it's final life. He'd never gotten to see the early stages of the country.Ranboo turns around, noting how empty the server was now, compared to when he had joined. It’s odd, not seeing multiple builds that he’d grown so used to. In the distance, he sees the community house, and he smiles.He’ll fix it here. He’ll make it right here. He has to, he can’t let the destruction that occurred previously happen. Karl has sent him back in time with the promise to fix everything, and Ranboo is a person who plans to keep his promises.---Ranboo is sent back in time by Karl. He plans to fix the country that fell into ruin. Will he be able to succeed?
Relationships: ALL PLATONIC, Karl Jacobs & Ranboo, Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Wilbur Soot
Comments: 51
Kudos: 309





	1. The Country that Never Was

**Author's Note:**

> I only have very loose ideas of this story so far, but this idea has dug itself into my brain and it won't let me rest, so here's this. This is my contribution to the Ranboo-Centric fics, because Ranboo has quickly become my favorite to write about and I feel like there's not enough centered around him. 
> 
> Just clarification: This is about the characters these people play, not the streamers themselves!!! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Possible warnings for future chapters: There will be canon-typical violence and possibly even death. I will, of course, tag these if they do occur in the future, but I just wanted to put this as a heads-up! 
> 
> <3

“Are you sure?” Karl asks him, bouncing nervously on his feet. That was the third time the brunette had asked him once Ranboo had come to him with his idea. 

Ranboo nods, taking in a deep breath. “I’m certain,” the enderman hybrid confirms. 

Karl sighs. “Everything will be different there. They’ll be different, once I come into the picture, I’ll be different too. Heck, you yourself might even be different once I send you there.” 

Ranboo feels his hands shake, but forces them into fists. Maybe, he shouldn’t do this… No, _no_ , he has to. He has to make things right again, because if he doesn’t, who will? 

“I know, Karl. I- I’ve already said goodbye to any one left who might miss me, but I need to do this Karl. I just- I want a happy ending for them.” 

The time traveler sorrowfully smiles, having shared the sentiment before. He was experienced now though, he knew better than to hope for the best in every timeline now. In the end, you'd just have more suffering and loss. (The amount of times Karl had to hold a dying friend, sobbing as he tried to find a timeline where they could live, where they could just be happy, where he could make everything right. It was always futile, he’d learned that lesson a long time ago, now). 

“Okay then, Ranboo. I’ve told you everything you might need to know, but take this for me.” Karl passes him a necklace, a simple chain one with a gold circle with a little spiral of green. Ranboo takes it and puts it on, smiling back. 

“It’s a farewell gift, from me to you.” 

“Thank you, Karl,” Ranboo says back, as he anxiously rubs his finger along the chain of the necklace. The hybrid and Karl had never been especially close, but they’d had close conversations before. There’s memories there, the few that Ranboo remembers, that he cherishes. (Karl knows Ranboo like a best friend, but those moments weren't in this timeline. Those were of a place somewhere else, not here). 

The two exchange a quick hug, and then Karl is opening a large, green portal. Ranboo's eyes widen as he looks at the other worldly thing in front of him, sparks of green flying off from the portal, and yet having no real effect on the area around it. 

Ranboo swallows nervously, rolling his shoulders as he steps forward. 

“Tell the others bye for me, okay, one last time?” 

Karl nods, and as the teen steps through the portal, he mutters his words. “Bye Ranboo, we’ll miss you.” 

Karl closes the portal behind the hybrid, letting out a little breath. He grabs an empty notebook and heads to the surface to start writing. As he steps out of his secret library, he begins to climb the hill that will allow him to over look the ashes of L’manberg. 

Karl swallows the lump in his throat and begins writing, ignoring the way the tears threaten to spill out of his eyes. This is the last chapter he’ll be writing for this book. For him, for now, this story has reached it’s unfortunate end. 

_ I sent Ranboo back today. I sent him back sometime during the revolution, but before Eret’s betrayal. I can only hope he’s able to fix what I never could. I tried going back that far to fix L'manberg, and yet it was futile. Maybe, just maybe, he'll have more luck than I ever have.  _

_I think, for now, I’m done trying to travel back and fix this timeline. Too many times have I had to hold_ ~~ _Quackity_~~ ~~_Tubbo_~~ ~~_Fundy_~~ ~~_Ranboo_~~ ~~_Sapnap_~~ ~~_Bbh_~~ ~~_Niki_~~ _someone as their lives were taken away from them. I don’t think I could take losing them again and again over and over any more. I’ve already done it way too much. And I’ve only managed to made worse timelines for some of them._

_ Sure, a few of them were worse than this one, but even this has ended up with L’manberg in the ground, all its founders dead alongside the country that was never supposed to live a long life. After Wilbur ends up dead, it’s never long before one after another follows after him.  _

_ Tommy and Tubbo are already gone, in this timeline. After Technoblade, Dream, and Philza blew up L’manberg, we found their bodies at the bottom of the crater, all the way down in the bedrock. I’ve found, among my times having traveled back, those two will often die alongside each other. Each and every single time, they were both so young to have lost all three of their lives. Only children, the two of them.  _

_ Their funeral was only yesterday. In some other timelines I’ve visited, they survived the fallout of L’manberg. In others, one of them will usually be dead before it even gets to this point.  _

_ I suppose that is the tragedy of L’manberg. It is a country that lives with its founding fathers. It too, can only live so many times without withering away.  _

_ And it's been through all my traveling that I've come to this tragic conclusion; L’manberg is only a hope, not a reality.  _

_ It’s the country that was born from a small group of nothing more than a few cocky rebels. A country that was made out of the hope for its own freedom, so that they could enact their own rules and have their own place to claim as home. A country that was opposed by an oppressive and greedy ruler, fighting for freedom even when that had seemed futile. It was a country that was for the people, for them to live out their hopes and dreams.  _

_ They’re the underdogs from the start to the very end. And, in this story, the underdogs fail to rise up and succeed long enough. _

_ And in the end, in the future far from now, those living in these DreamSMP lands, will not know of that short-lived country. A country that rose only for a few years, fighting every step of the way. A country that lived and spoke with its people, where everything was sacrificed in an attempt to keep its hearts from breaking, where the people would sacrifice themselves to keep it alive.  _

_ In the end, when someone finds this book, they will not know the name L’manberg. It will be a name washed away in the history books, a piece of land, a home, that never was. They will not know the names I’ve written in this book, they will not understand the meanings behind these people and their legacies. They will never know.  _

_ How I wish L’manberg could sing a different song and have a finished symphony.  _

_ This was the tale of  _ _ L’manberg _ _ , the country that never was.  _

_ Sincerely,  _

_ \-  _ ~~_ Karl Jacobs _ ~~ _ Narrator  _


	2. Not According to Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ranboo is now back in time, but things go much differently then what he had in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry this chapter has taken so long to get out, my original plan for this was to update once a week, but I think I'll have to push it back to once every other week on either Saturday or Sunday. School is very stressful right now and takes up a lot of my time. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!  
> <3

When Ranboo steps through the portal that Karl had opened for him, he immediately feels sick and dizzy, falling to the ground and curling in towards his stomach as he feels the urge to puke. He doesn’t, luckily, but when he stands back up, the world still spins around him. His legs wobble and his throat is slightly parched as he takes in his new surroundings. 

And he realizes, with some level of surprise, that he recognizes the area he’s at. He’s on top of a hill, a small one, but enough that he can survey the area and have some form of recognition. The hill is the one above the prime path, leading straight to the entrance of L’manberg. The area surrounding him, however, has a lot more growth and greenery, trees and grass still sprouting and growing freely, yet to be cut down and pushed back like they had by the time he’d joined the server.

Ranboo looks over at the mighty blackstone walls that tower above the forest greenery, a feeling of awe settling in his gut. He’ hadn’t been on the server long enough to have witnessed the walls that L’manberg had first been established with. (The only walls he’d ever witnessed were when Dream had started building the obsidian around the borders of the country, but that felt like forever ago now). 

The seventeen-year-old turns around, noting how empty the server was in comparison to when he had joined. It’s odd, not seeing multiple builds that he’d grown so used to. In the distance, he sees the community house, and he smiles. 

He’ll fix the future he lived in. He’ll make it right here. He has to, he can’t let the destruction that occurred previously happen. Karl has sent him back in time with the promise to fix everything, and Ranboo is a person who plans to keep his promises. 

He thumbs over the necklace Karl has given him, inspecting the thing. It’s very simple, but it’s all he has left of his original timeline. Ranboo smiles, an ache blossoming in his chest as he places the jewelry around his neck and stuffs the pendant under his shirt, hidden away from view. He’s got this, he can fix it here. 

He takes a step forward, sliding down the hill and onto the prime path. The Ender hybrid feels determined like he’s never felt before, each part of him certain in his actions and direction. He’s not split in a 50/50 battle against himself for what he sees as correct. This time, it’s crystal clear. 

The first step he has to take is simple.

_Help L’manberg win the war against Dream._

-

So, that first step might not be as simple as he originally thought, he thinks, as he sits with his hands tied up in rope and tethered to a table in the middle of a van in the center of L’manberg, surrounded by people who don’t know or trust him. 

Ranboo clearly hadn’t thought his plan through well enough. He had never fought in a war before. He’d never had to worry about having to defend from people trying to invade, whether it be from large numbers of people and force, or through an individual slipping past the border to spy and relay information. 

To be fair though, he hadn’t expected to be tied up for being curious. When the tall teenager poked his head inside the wall of L’manberg, he was surprised to see how much smaller the country was inside the walls. He hesitantly took a step forward into the country, walking inside the walls and tracing his hand along the black-stone, black dust coating his fingers, though barely noticeable. The ground was surprisingly soft under his feet, almost marshy, and the chit-chatter of the surrounding wildlife filled the air. 

As he traced the wall along, the birds eventually stopped the chattering, but he was oblivious to it. He kept tracing the wall until he heard a sudden crunch of leaves around him, turning around to face a person who he was familiar with aiming a drawn bow at him. He flinches backward, eyes going wide as he takes in the sight of Eret aiming a weapon at him, almost snarling. 

“Who are you?” Eret asks, unwavering and voice bordering venomous. Ranboo is frozen in place, taking in the features of the man he’d only ever known as a king of the SMP. However, instead of the normal red coat and golden crown that Ranboo is so used to seeing the man in, he instead wears a navy blue jacket with a white undershirt and a black and white hat snug on top of his head instead. The only reason Ranboo can truly recognize him for certain is because of the man’s distinctly deep voice and his trademark tinted sunglasses that hide his distinctive purely white eyes. 

Eret raises an eyebrow, impatiently as they wait for Ranboo’s answer. The hybrid messes with the cuffs of his suit, looking for the words to explain himself. “I, uhm- How should I- Uh, well…” 

Ranboo knows then that he has to make up a story. He can’t just go around telling everyone that he was from the future, there was no way that they’d believe him. In fact, without a doubt in his mind, they’d think he was crazy. And so, Ranboo plays a role he’s had for a long as he can remember (ha, wasn’t that funny?). 

“I-I’m sorry but I- I don’t know. I can’t… I can’t remember.” 

And well, he’s lying of course. It makes him feel slightly sick, honesty being very important to him, but he knows he has no other choice in this situation. He’s usually one to be completely clear on whether or not he remembers something, but he doesn’t see any other possible choice for him here. 

Eret slightly lowers his bow. “How did you get here, then?” 

Ranboo looks back towards the entrance, blinking slowly to try to sell his confusion. “I just- I just walked in? I- I woke up on that hill up there and I- I don’t remember anything else?” 

The man nods. “Okay.” He states, taking a few steps towards the younger hybrid. Ranboo’s tail flicks nervously and his ears lower. The Eret he knows is a kind and giving person, but this is not the Eret he knows. This is an Eret who lives and fights and breathes in war, in violence, who likely already has set up plans to betray this nation to become king over another, costing multiple lives of those who had previously been her friends. (Tommy had ranted about Eret many times before, as had Fundy and Tubbo. While he’d say it’s safe to assume that was all in the past, now it’s all in the future.)

“Come with me then, I’ll take you to Wilbur. He’s our leader.” 

Ranboo nods, hesitantly moving forward and frowning as Eret takes his arm, though not too harshly. 

Ranboo swallows down his nerves, even though the way his tail flicks behind him and his eyes dart everywhere in his surrounding area gives away his true emotion. “Leader of what,” Ranboo questions, leaning further into his role as clueless. 

Eret gives him a skeptical side look before letting out a small sigh. “This place, inside these walls, is known as L’manberg. Does that ring any bells?” 

The hybrid bites his lip, narrowing his eyes as he looks to the ground in false concentration, his hands going to play with the ends of his sleeves, but unable to due to Eret’s grip on his arm. “No,” he mutters. “I can’t, I can’t seem to remember… anything, in fact.” 

With wide eyes, Ranboo forces his eyes up, locking eyes with Eret. It agitates something in the back of his mind, but he’s easily able to push the urge down from years of accidental eye contact. “You aren’t going to kill me, right?” 

Eret comes to a full stop, he features softening. “I- no. We don’t, we don’t do that here. L’manberg fights with our words, not with violence.” 

Ranboo nods his head, but looks back down and slouches even further into himself. Eret sighs and continues walking, though the man seems a lot less tense than before. The two of them stop at a van, the only thing that Ranboo has recognized so far within these walls. 

Eret gestures at the van door, pressing the button and allowing Ranboo to step in first. He slightly has to lower his head to get in, his abnormal height making low ceilings an issue. 

Once he’s inside, he’s met with two more people. He immediately recognizes Tommy, although he’s shorter and younger, with his bright blond hair and blue eyes. Ranboo doesn’t know for how long L’manberg had been established before he came around, but Tommy looked to be only thirteen or fourteen if that’s anything to go by. Across the table from Tommy stands a man with brown eyes and a beanie instead of the caps everyone else seems to have. He holds himself tall and confident, the aura of a leader emitting from him. 

Ranboo never met Alivebur, or well, Wilbur, he supposes. He’d only ever been told stories of Wilbur, and even those were sparse in detail. The man had died a tragic death, after all, and that’s all people really wanted to tell him, shying away from the subject of the man after his death. Tommy had told him about Wilbur, at least a bit. However, from what Ranboo had seen, Tommy had been loyal to Wilbur until the very end, almost blindly putting his trust in the man he’d seen as a brother. 

From what Tommy had told him, Wilbur was a great leader and spokesman. He’d established L’Manberg as a place of safety and freedom, for the people to have a voice, to rebel against the tyrannical rule of Dream. More than that though, Tommy would never stop talking about Wilbur’s love for music, for making other people happy and safe. On that beach when Tommy was exiled, Ranboo learned quite a bit about Wilbur, the one that had died even before the angel of death had run him through with a sword. 

Tommy and Wilbur stop conversing when Ranboo and Eret step in the door, both pausing and looking towards them. Wilbur stands, eyes immediately narrowing as help looks between Eret and Ranboo. The hybrid’s attention is immediately on the leader, not knowing what to expect of the man he’d never personally gotten to know. 

“Eret, who is this?” Wilbur asks calmly, walking closer to the two. Ranboo licks his lips, heart hammering hard inside his chest. 

Eret shrugs, sighing as he pushes up his tinted glasses. “I’m not sure, I found him just inside the walls, inspecting them. I think he might be working for Dream? He says he’s got no memory of anything, though.” 

Wilbur nods and waves Eret out of the van, dismissing him to continue his patrol around the wall. Eret nods as they walk back out of the van, leaving Ranboo alone with the two. The man gestures towards an open chair, the one next to Tommy, who’s been staring at Ranboo the entire time with an expression that looks like he’s ready to launch both a million questions or an attack. Rnboo doesn’t know which one he’d prefer.

Even if this Tommy is younger than the one he knows, it’s interesting to see how fearsome and determined he is, still the Tommy he knows in spirit. 

Ranboo sits, and the second he does, Tommy is rushing through his words. “Who are you? What’s your name? Are you on Dream’s side, cuz you better not be, Dream’s a wronin’. How old are you? I’m fourteen and everyone around here is older than me, it’s rather annoying. You’re on our side, right, you better be or I’ll stab you.” 

Tommy pulls out a sharpened knife from a hidden pocket, pointing it threateningly at the Ender hybrid. “This is my knife, bitch. Don’t mess with me!” 

The hybrid hears an exasperated sigh from Wilbur before the man sits across from him, lips drawn tight and hands folded together. His analyzing gaze makes Ranboo’s skin crawl. “Tommy, please, shut up for a moment here. I need to speak to our guest.” 

Tommy frowns and folds his arms, but shuts his mouth in focus. Ranboo is almost shocked by how serious Tommy turns within seconds. Ranboo always saw Tommy as a person to respect no authority. 

“Now, would you care to tell us who you are and what you were doing inside the borders of L’manberg?” 

Ranboo nods, pausing to think for a moment and gather his words. “Um, I’m Ranboo and, uh, I’ll be honest with you, I don’t remember much.” 

Wilbur nods, but Ranboo can tell the man is skeptical. “How much do you remember then, Ranboo?” 

Ranboo traces over the button on the cuff of his sleeves, playing with it in his nervousness. “N-not much. I know a few things about myself, but I-I can’t seem to remember much else?” 

Wilbur nods once again, his expression giving nothing away. The man is unnerving, but Ranboo knows, at the very least, the man won’t kill him. Wilbur, so far, doesn’t seem to be a very violent person in nature. He hopes that stays true through the rest of their interaction. 

“Tommy, why don’t you go grab Tubbo for me? You two bring me some rope and a few bottles of water and blaze powder.” 

Tommy goes to argue, the words on the tip of his tongue as he sits up from his chair, but one look from his older brother sends him scurrying off with a nod and a yell of “Tubbo!” as the van door closes behind him. 

Ranboo watches the younger boy leave, surprised by how fast he’d taken off without argument. 

For a second, he pictures a different scene, where Tommy is running, but in the direction of his best friend as an explosion heads straight for Tubbo, just barely blocking in time as the two fight off explosions from the withers circling them. (The smell of ash and smoke is heavy and his ears are in a constant state of ringing, dust and smoke and ash flying everywhere and creating a cloud that’s difficult to see through. His lungs burn, he can practically feel them turning black)

Ranboo forces the memory away from his mind, attention back on Wilbur who is clearly in thought. 

“So, uh, those thing aren’t for me, right?” Ranboo asks, having only one idea for what rope could be used for in this situation. Dread curls in his stomach, the already small van seeming to get tighter and tighter around him. Though why Wilbur wants blaze power is beyond him. 

The leader raises an eyebrow before he stands up. Ranboo’s ears instinctively pull back, biting his lips as the man towers across the table from him. 

  
“It’s nothing against you Ranboo, so please understand that. However, as the leader of this revolution, I need to be cautious about who I allow in this country. And, well, Dream is an enemy, and I can’t chance spies infiltrating the revolution’s ranks.” 

Ranboo lowers his head, not saying anything in response. He knows Dream is the enemy, but it’s not like he’ll be able to convince the L’manbergians that he’s on their side. For now, maybe it’s best if he complies. What else could he do? 

“Could I have a journal, at the very least? I don’t- I don’t want to get bored, I guess.” 

Wilbur’s gaze seems to soften as he pulls out an, presumably, empty book and a pen and hands it to Ranboo. “Feel free to write in there whatever you’d like. I’m sorry that we have to do this.” 

Ranboo nods, sighing. He’s getting tired. It’s only been a few hours since he stepped through that portal, but it’s absolutely depleted him of energy. His eyes start to close, his head falling forward. He’s able to catch it with his arm first, laying with his head on his arm as he closes his eyes. It’ll be fine if he just… rests his eyes for a second, right? Yeah, yeah. It’ll all be fine. 

Everything will be okay.

-

When Ranboo awakes the next morning, his hands are both tied in rope and tethered to the table in the van. By the windows, he sees three potions bubbling, though he can’t reach the bench they rest at with him being tied to reside at the table. He can see the water inside them a light grey, bubbles flowing to the top of the cap and a light wisp of smoke escaping out the top. 

He let out a loud and frustrated groan, glaring at the walls of L’manberg through the windows of the van. He gets the feeling that this plan of his is going to be a lot more difficult than he originally thought. 

~~~

_On another part of the server, a masked man frowns at the welcome message of a new player. He has no information about this ‘Ranboo’ character, but a new piece on the board is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if that piece could become one of his. (He can feel the familiar pull of another Dreamon, and he wonders if this ‘Ranboo’ has unlocked his full potential yet. If he hasn’t, then this player could potentially become one of the most valuable pieces on the board yet.)_

_Pawns might not be very valuable at first, but they reach the other side, and suddenly, they can change to become a real asset to have._

_~~~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the chapter! I know it's not the most exciting, but I promise things will start getting interesting soon! I would love if you left a comment, they make my entire day. Anyways, I hoped you lot enjoyed! If you see any spelling errors and such, feel free to point them out in the comments. I got tired and gave up on reading over it for errors lol. 
> 
> Hope you all have a lovely day! 
> 
> <3

**Author's Note:**

> If you find any spelling/grammar mistakes, just point it out for me and I'll try to come back and edit this chapter later to fix any mistakes I made. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this! If you want to leave a comment or kudos, that would absolutely make my day! Also, feel free to give me some more ideas on how to continue this! I'm already working on the next chapters, but some more ideas or just your thoughts in general would be lovely. (Comments really inspire me to keep working on these types of things)
> 
> I hope you all have a good day/night <3


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